#mortality reduction

[thetanningguru]

Shedding New Light on UV Exposure: Sunbed Health Benefits Finally Revealed

For years, we’ve been warned about the dangers of ultraviolet (UV) light exposure, particularly from sunbeds. However, a groundbreaking new study from researchers at the University of Edinburgh suggests that UV exposure may have more health benefits than previously thought, especially in countries with low sunlight like the United Kingdom. The Study at a Glance Published in the journal Health &…

[rabbitsonthemoon]

If I keep shoving nutrients into this body it'll give me enough energy to get through the day, right? Right?

This body: yesterday is history tomorrow is a mystery and today is also a mystery. fuck you. also, you're low on iron now.

[gaylittlefrogwizard]

Hank Green is dope af

i know people make these kinds of posts with fictional characters a lot but like. hank green truly is one of The Most Guys Ever. like. he's one of the earliest youtubers who is still on there. he's a 43-year-old tiktok star. he's a science educator. he got cancer and his response was to make a tier list of the press's coverage of his cancer announcement. the president of the united states sent him a message of support and he told the president that he was pissing out the cancer. years earlier he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and his response was to write a polka song about it. he created vidcon. he's the ceo of a company that produces a shitton of educational series (well, not acting ceo at the moment due to the aforementioned cancer). his guitar says "this machine pwns n00bs" on it. he invented 2D glasses. one of his earliest videos to get popular was about animal sex. between him and his brother, he was known as "the science one" (or "the music one") while his brother was "the writer one," and then he wrote two new york times bestselling novels. his most controversial opinion is that butt is legs. he's done so many things that there is a website dedicated to counting the number of days since he started a new thing. he and his brother use their internet following to (among other things) fight maternal/infant mortality in sierra leone. he has a baked bean furby. hes even bisexual

[shortfeedshq]

Boost Your Health and Reduce Cancer Risk with Moderate Physical Activity

According to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), moderate physical activity could decrease the risk of cancer death. The research team analyzed data from over 750,000 adults and found that those who engaged in moderate physical activity for at least 150 minutes per week had a 20% lower risk of cancer death compared to those who were less…

[zabadi]

incredibly sick & tired of the way the phrase harm reduction is thrown around to mean you're morally obligated to vote for a murderer. You guys do not know what harm reduction means. Harm reduction is a concrete set of strategies with the goal of improving quality of life/reducing mortality rates for people who use drugs. these strategies include medication assisted treatment, needle exchanges, housing first programs, free prep. the underpinning thought process is not about "lesser evils" or voting for MURDERERS! It's about respecting the autonomy of homeless people, addicts, the (formerly) incarcerated, (you know, the most marginalized members of our society!) and meeting them where they are, treating them like people, taking into account what they want and how they want to get there. If they were, for instance, being bombed to hell by the president it would actually not be harm reduction to vote for the guy bombing them. You fucking soulless brain dead liberals.

[truth4ourfreedom]

THE BENEFITS OF IVERMECTIN. IF YOU HAVE CANCER, FREQUENT COLD OR INFECTIONS, MUSCLE SHRINKAGE, CARDIAC ISSUES, CROHNS, HERPES, ETC.

The study was published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science.  LET'S TALK ABOUT IVERMECTIN 1 – Ivermectin prevents the damage caused to RNA Vaccines.  2 – Ivermectin blocks the entry of Spike Protein into cells.  So, if the person was vaccinated with COVID, they have hope, they have a way to treat themselves through Ivermectin.  3 – Ivermectin is a treatment after Covid and after vaccination, it is an effective medicine in all phases of Covid 19, even before entering the cell, Ivermectin already destroys the virus in the blood.  It only has beneficial effects and no harmful effects in the treatment of the coronavirus.  4 – Ivermectin has a very powerful anti-inflammatory action against Coronavirus.  5 – Ivermectin has a powerful action for traumatic and orthopedic injuries, it strengthens muscles and has no side effects like corticosteroids.  6 – Ivermectin treats autoimmune ailments such as: rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, fibromyalgia, psoriasis, Crohn's disease, allergic rhinitis.  7 – Ivermectin reduces the frequency of flu and colds.  8 – Ivermectin improves the immunity of cancer patients.  9 – Ivermectin treats Herpes Simplex and Herpes Zoster.  10 – Ivermectin reduces the frequency of sinusitis and diverticulitis.  11 – Ivermectin protects the heart in cardiac overload, in an embolism for example, it prevents cardiac hypoxia because it stimulates the production of basic energy so that the tissue is not destroyed and thus improves cardiac function.  12 – Ivermectin is antiparasitic.  13 – Ivermectin is anti-neoplastic (anti-cancer), it suppresses the proliferation and metastasis of cancer cells, only killing cancer cells and preserving healthy cells, improving the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatment, as it kills cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy, defeating the resistance to multiple chemotherapeutics that tumors develop, and combined with chemotherapy and/or anti-cancer agents, it provides an increase in the effectiveness of these treatments.  14 – Ivermectin is antimicrobial (bacteria and viruses), and increases immunity.  15 – Ivermectin reaches the Central Nervous System and regenerates the nerves.  16 – Ivermectin regulates glucose and insulin metabolism.  17 – Ivermectin regulates cholesterol metabolism.  18 – Ivermectin reduces liver fat in steatose.  19 – Ivermectin protects the liver exposed to insecticides.  20 – Ivermectin attacks the virus wherever it is, regardless of mutations.  21 – Ivermectin serves for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus, surprisingly.  Unproven efficacy is not of Ivermectin, but of vaccines.  22 – Ivermectin, used as a prophylactic agent, was associated with a significant reduction in infection, hospitalization and mortality rates due to COVID-19.  23 - Ivermectin does not attack the liver, since it is not metabolized in it, and if in the intestine, on the contrary, it protects the liver. 

BIG PHARMA DOES NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW THIS.THEY WANT TO SELL YOU THE EXPENSIVE MEDS THEY MAKE BILLIONS ON.

Please read, save and re-blog before Tumblr takes this down.

[cabin13cappuccino]

Literally no way. I looked up the list of vaccines Nico would have had to get in order to be allowed into the United States for fic reasons and it's...not a short list. Like, it includes smallpox and yellow fever. Just to be granted a visa. Not to mention that infectious disease was still a major killer of children at the time- pertussis, flu, and tetanus vaccines were a few years away from being readily available when Nico went into the Lotus, and measles/mumps/polio/rubella vaccines weren't available until the 1950s/60s/70s. The March of Dimes was a huge campaign starting in 1938- he definitely saw that upon coming to America. Kiddo probably had friends die of polio and measles and definitely (from a statistical standpoint) lost extended family/family friends to the 1918 flu. (Random fun fact about me: my Italian great grandparents came to the US after losing one of their kids to the 1918 influenza pandemic.)

*Maybe* you could make the argument that Hazel might be slightly more hesitant, with rumors in New Orleans of some strange shot given to Black men in Alabama that made them and their families sick (i.e. Tuskeegee Syphilis Experiment) , but even then she would certainly have been exposed to the March of Dimes ads on the radio as well as having similar experiences to Nico re: knowing people who have died or been permanently disabled by (modern era) vaccine-preventable diseases.

Imagine how HYPE these two would be hearing that there is no polio in the US anymore- that it's almost gone from the entire world. That smallpox does. not. exist. anywhere. in. the. world. outside. of. two. freezers.

Out of everyone, Reyna might have the best case for being skeptical of mortal medicine from a historical/cultural perspective (hearing about oral contraceptive testing that was so unethical in the 1960s done on unsuspecting Puerto Rican women) coupled with her basically living out of the mortal world for a long time.

But honestly, the most likely candidates for anti-vax sentiments among demigods? The Grace siblings, particularly Jason. The privileged areas of California have been a hotbed of bringing measles and the like back since Wakefield published his fraudulent, conflict-of-interest-riddled paper in 1998 when the anti-vax movement really took off. Beryl Grace would have absolutely bought into the bullshit. Then Jason was taken away at age 2 and basically indoctrinated into the Roman "show no weakness" way...kinda can't blame him until he knows better. (I don't doubt Nico and Hazel can share some stories that drive home to Jason just how lucky he is to grow up in a time when people have forgotten just how horrifying vaccine-preventable diseases are. He's a reasonable guy.)

(I can see Thalia getting her immunizations updated as one of the first things she does upon running away to rebel against her mom.)

And remember, kids: being vaccine hesitant for intergenerational trauma/medical racism reasons is very different than being anti-vax, which is usually inextricably linked with being eugenicist to autistic people (especially kids). Get your fuckin immunizations!!

I’ve seen all the Will vaccinates Nico fics but has anyone considered… anti-vax Nico? Like Will is just losing his mind trying to get Nico to see he needs to get vaccinated asap so he doesn’t die of chicken pox or something and Nico’s just like “we have ambrosia and nectar for that, William. Don’t try that witchcraft on me.” Meanwhile Will is just crying like “it’s just science and medical advancements you silly child from the 1930s.”

I just think this would be hilarious.

[jzixuans]

clj is like baby trapping someone into a relationship except it’s destiny trapping and instead of a single relationship you get a woman you’re in love with, a stupid annoying sworn brother, your Actual stupid annoying sworn brother, a conniving woman who’s now your subordinate, your right hand arm man silly dragon who’s also basically your other stupid brother, and the reincarnated god of war is also there.

[newvegasdyke]

"What surprised us the most was the fact that women who do muscle strengthening had a reduction in their cardiovascular mortality by 30%," Gulati says. "We don't have many things that reduce mortality in that way."

"The take home message is – let's start moving," says Eric Shiroma, a prevention-focused researcher at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, which provided grant support for the research.

Published March 11, 2024. Some good news for women’s health :)

[kitchen-light]

A few days prior, at a Q&A after one of my readings, a young man in the audience raised his hand: Do you believe in ghosts? “Well, that depends.” I told him. “What is a ghost?” What I love most about ghost stories is their malleability. A ghost can be a heart beating beneath a floorboard. A father, appearing to his son to beg for vengeance. A party dress worn by your husband’s first wife, which you, the new wife, now don. A ghost can be a house, or a mirror, or a shadow. It would be reductive to define ghost-hood as simply a deceased person’s spirit appearing in the mortal realm. So then, how do we define a ghost? I personally have one, simple definition: a ghost is a manifestation of longing.

GennaRose Nethercott, from her essay ““A Ghost Is a Memory.” On Bodies, Belief, and the Places Ghost Stories Live”, published in Lit Hub, October 31, 2022

[s0rr3l]

BLACK MYTH: WUKONG OC

Name: Lǐyú (carp)

Age: 25

Height: 5''11 ft/180 cm

Pronouns: They/Them

Story

A traveller out of time and space, Lǐyú finds themselves stranded on Black Wind Mountain, alone and at the mercy of its hostile inhabitants.

Taking pity, the Keeper of Black Wind Mountain takes them in and assigns them the position of <Shrine Caretaker>, a minor position that oversees the upkeep and maintenance of the various shrines within Black Wind Mountain.

Under the elder Keeper’s care, Lǐyú begins to familiarise themselves with their new circumstances through the Keeper's guidance. Inbetween duties, Lǐyú takes the time to learn and record the world about them in an effort to understand and survive.

This routine persists for several weeks, until the arrival of a certain monkey.

Lǐyú is an optional (Companion) to the [Destined One], who may join your party after accepting the request of the Keeper of the Black Wind Mountain.

Accepting Lǐyú as a (Companion) will unlock their personal quest <<Long Way From Home>>.

((More info about their stats/abilities below!))

Stats

Although physically weak, Lǐyú is a valuable companion of the Destined One and shows surprising tenacity against the challenges of this new world.

(Companion) Lǐyú has 5 stats to upgrade from LVL 1. Stamina Recovery Rate and Damage Reduction stats are unlocked after clearing Chapter 1 ‘Black Wind, Red Fire’.

Abilities

[Luck that goes against the Heavens]

Lǐyú's fortunes are known to dip and rise in unusual patterns.

While they often come across opportunities to gather precious materials, ingredients or equipment, it is always accompanied by mortal peril.

Their Luck is so unnatural that it defies the natural balance of the world, so fortuitous encounters often come with the risk of danger in an effort to suppress their Luck.

(Companion) Lǐyú has MAX LVL [LUCK].

Can inflict one of the following debuffs to enemies within their range: Increased Miss Rate, Reduced Critical Hit chance, Reduced Movement Speed, Reduced Resistance to the Four Banes

Grants one buff to allies, 2 buffs to Companions (for more information, please see BUFFS page)

Increase the rate of EQUIPMENT/LOOT drops and discovery of precious ingredients/materials

Due to their nature, (Companion) Lǐyú will influence the [Destined One]'s own [LUCK].

Warning: should Lǐyú enter the STRESSED state, their [LUCK] will start to indiscriminately target allies and foes alike.

Will attract enemy AGGRO within a certain radius if not using Stealth

Allies and Companions will be afflicted with one random debuff: Increased Miss Rate, Reduced Critical Hit chance, Reduced Movement Speed, Reduced Resistance to the Four Banes

Introduces random environmental hazards

It is recommended that the [Destined One] keep Lǐyú's STRESS to a minimum.

Skills

(Companion) Lǐyú should come equipped with the following skills prior to joining the [Destined One].

Shrine Caretaker: Taught the basic upkeep and care of shrine maintenance. Allows Lǐyú to access the hub-world like the [Destined One].

Stealth: the ability to sneak past lesser yaoguais. However, skill will increases STRESS on Lǐyú. Can be upgraded.

Additional skills can be attained or unlocked through the completion of quests or advancing the main storyline.

TIP: Lǐyú is purely a support type (Companion) with little to no attack skills and prone to causing unexpected changes to main storyline. May the [Destined One] keep this in mind.

Spells

Due to limited Mana, Lǐyú cannot perform any spells.

Upon the completion of the <<Teacher for a Day>> quest, Lǐyú can begin training to increase mana and unlock [Spells].

In Chapter 3 ‘White Snow, Ice Cold’, Lǐyú can trigger the optional side quest <<Teacher for a Day>> upon meeting (Companion) Zhu Bajie.

Curios

Due to limited space, can only equip one curio at a time.

Upon meeting the Yin Tiger or upgrading to Legendary quality armour, Lǐyú can increase their curio slot by +1.

Current slot:

Wind Chime: Rare quality. Found while exploring the ruins of an old temple at the bottom of the mountain. Slightly increases movement speed. “Hark, the wind rises! That yaoguai must be coming this way!”

Inventory

(Companion) Lǐyú starts off with 10 inventory slots. These are their starting equipment:

Journal: Never seems to run out of paper. Lǐyú can use this item to access daily observations, enemy weaknesses and important landmarks/discovered secret realm locations.

Gourd: unknown quality, gifted by Yuan Shoucheng. A mysterious item that will grow along with it's user, has yet to show any special abilities. Can be upgraded.

Backpack: unknown quality, bigger inside than out. Carries all of Lǐyú's belongings.

Smartphone: rare quality. A keepsake from Lǐyú's world. Interacting with this item with the [Destined One] can trigger side quest <<???>>. “What a marvelous device!”

Fruit Leather: peach-flavoured. A consumable item that can raise the [Destined One]'s favourability.

Equipment

(Companion) Lǐyú starts off with the following equipment:

Old Temple Garb: rare quality. Gifted by the Keeper of Black Wind Mountain, who claims it was left behind by the previous Shrine Caretaker.

Cotton wristwraps: common quality. Plain but sturdy, in surprisingly good condition.

Cotton legwraps: common quality. Plain but sturdy, in surprisingly good condition.

Sneakers: unknown quality, but undeniably tough. A foreign brand gifted by their best friend. Claims to be both water-proof and fire-proof.

Hoodie: rare quality. A limited edition print from Lǐyú's favourite brand. Offers no defensive abilities but brings a sense of comfort. Can decrease the rate of Lǐyú's STRESS.

Quest Objectives

<<Long Way From Home>>

Lǐyú's final objective is to return to their original world. This can be completed by first completing main quest <<Revive Sun Wukong>>

(This objective is an optional side quest available to the [Destined One]. It is not compulsory for the completion of main quest <<Revive Sun Wukong>>)

<<Hug Auntie>> (must complete main quest objective)

<<Eat hotpot with friends>> (must complete main quest objective)

<<Red String of Fate>>

Secret side quest that triggers randomly depending on the relationship status between (Companion) Lǐyú and the [Destined One].

To unlock post-game content, the [Destined One] must complete main quest objective <<Revive Sun Wukong>>.

Endings

There are currently three available endings depending on whether the [Destined One] will complete Lǐyú's personal quest <<Long Way From Home>>

<<Till We Meet Again>>

Normal ending. Lǐyú returns to their original world after the [Destined One] fufills their destiny.

<<Promise>>

Secret Ending. Unlocked after the successful completion of the following side quests:

<<Long Way From Home>>

<<Red String of Fate>>

<<Fishbowl>>

Secret Ending. Unlocked after the successful completion of the following side quests:

<<Red String of Fate>>

<<???>>

Depending on the [Destined One]'s actions during CHAPTER 3, can trigger side quest <<???>>

(To achieve this ending, the [Destined One] must fail to complete side quest <<Long Way From Home>>)

[chiiroptereh]

[Please zoom in, there's a lot of detail! And a massive file size...ouch]

Hi guys, long time no post! Been working on Art Fight and life stuff, but I've got something kinda fun for you.

This is a compilation exploring how a mortal Bill may interact with our world if there were still some kinda Euclidean instincts buried in there. Y'know, before the Book of Bill ruins all my headcanons >:P (EDIT: IT HAS BEEN READ. YAHOOOOOO)

Also quite an experimental piece as you can probably tell. Lots of details on both said headcanons and the art stuff under the cut, but I invite you to study the colorful texture yourself beforehand and think about what it might be representative of, just for fun because I got some really cool answers from my friends when asked :]c

TL;DR: the headcanon is that Euclideans have exceptional eyes for geometry. They find things like symmetry, tessellating patterns, graphs and fractals very aesthetically pleasing. If pushed into our 3D world, they feel comforted by the familiarity flat objects/spaces bring, as well as high-contrast patterns. Shadows especially are a familiar dimensional reduction that may bring them much comfort.

Bill would surely not be happy about these inclinations, constant reminders of a past long gone, but I'm not sure he's even aware of them here :P I think his ego gets in the way to the point where he just views these interests as common sense, which, of course, us lame humans just don't understand because we aren't nearly as cool as him. Of course he likes perfectly symmetrical leaves and staring at the kitchen floor, it's called taste, look it up!

And yet, he can't seem to shake the strange sense of melancholy he gets from viewing his own shadow.

~ End of TL;DR, long version below! ~

🔺 Headcanon Development

So, the catalyst of this idea was in relation to my friend and I's AU ( @love-triangles-au ). TL;DR, Bill's brought back mortal, meets another triangle named Y.V. (it's his hand holding the paper in the piece, actually), at some point they fall in yaois together, you know how it is. And, in writing a pair of triangles (or, more broadly, writing from the perspective of a different species), something I've had to consider was that you really can't get much further removed from a human being than sentient geometry.

The anatomical aspect was mostly figured out (see my piece on Bill's eye-mouth), but I wanted to consider what psychological differences might be at play. I wanted them to be weirder, more alien, double-so for Bill. At first I explored these possibilities through the lens of Bill and Y.V.'s relationship, specifically the question "what might a triangle find appealing about another triangle?"

Well, really the only things that came to mind were straight lines and symmetry, anything related to the geometric form of such a creature. That's more-or-less where that ended until the thought struck me that there's no reason this aesthetic appreciation couldn't extend to the rest of the environment, and then further when I realized, "wait, this is a species that is designed to live in a 2D environment. Like, they should seriously be really weird. I need to push this like 200% more."

So...yeah! I did some thinking and brainstorming with others and came up with a pretty long list of things a Euclidean in our world may be inclined to enjoy or find some level of comfort in. It's worth noting again that in this piece specifically this is a mortal/powerless Bill, so he can't really escape this Earthly environment. IF he's aware of these instincts at all (and that's a big "if"; when have you last been cognizant of your own instincts let alone known where they were stemming from?) I think he'd have snuffed them out in immortality and/or purposefully gone against them; he doesn't take kindly to being told what to do.

In order from left-to-right, top-to-bottom, here's an explanation for each!:

Flat objects such as paper are something he may find particularly engaging. It's basically 2D!

Tessellations are especially fascinating, and our world has them everywhere in the form of tile floors. Symmetry and such a predictable pattern...as the infinity of the starry sky might for us, the infinite potential of tessellations might invoke a similar sense of awe in him. Add on the maximum contrast of black on white kitchen tiles and the forms are only even better defined! A sensitivity to contrast would be very helpful for a 2D being navigating their environment.

Fields are flat and open, much like Euclydia itself. Laying flat may make him feel a little more at home.

More tessellation in the honeycomb of hymenopterans (bees, wasps and friends)! It helps that pain is hilarious.

The city is an absolute treasure trove. Rectangular buildings, precise architecture, square sidewalks and straight lines abound...he may as well be looking at a rainbow or an art gallery! I think a Euclidean's brain is very fine-tuned to mathematics, especially in regards to trigonometry. What may appear to be a straight painting might appear obnoxiously crooked to him.

Zebras are high-contrast :]

Another flat surface, another relaxing space <3

I think graphs are about as high as high art gets to most Euclideans.

I've touched on shadows before, and for good reason; truly they must be something borderline magical to the Euclidean and perhaps bitterly nostalgic.

This one kinda speaks for itself. Dweeb.

🎨 The Artsy Stuff

Lately I've been trying to find ways to fit more color into my work, as color is perhaps one of my favorite things in the world. My wardrobe is rather garish; my dad jokes that you could see me from space. My fursona is obnoxiously bright for a reason -- I feel my soul is a very colorful one!

I also realized recently that I don't actually know the exact style that speaks to me. I could talk about the phenomenon of the "style crisis" that many artists have all day, but in my mind the best cure for this feeling is to go against it entirely and begin stealing as much as possible.

So, I've tried to keep an eye out for more sources of inspiration everywhere I go, physical and digital. I've tried to train my mind into making a habit of considering, "can I do anything with this?" everywhere I go, and it recently paid off!

The glittery rainbowy texture you see plastered all over Billiam is this one, a photo-manipulated set of fruit stickers. I must confess I've been obsessed with this image for the past 72 hours, and this seemed like a good excuse to try it out!

I worried throughout the process if it might be so abstract that it loops back around to being horribly deliberate, if that makes sense -- like each sparkle was not a piece of a whole but rather an object in itself -- but it seems like that hasn't been a problem, so I'm grateful for that :Dc

I hope it can dazzle and delight you as it does me, but as long as you find it fascinating at the very least then I consider it a success! I really enjoyed hearing my friends' interpretations while workshopping it, and got tons of amazing answers from opal to kaleidoscope to fossilized bone marrow! I truly believe that the best art has some room for interpretation and it really excites me to be surrounded by that kind of creative energy that follows said pieces. That definitely adds to my pride in this work. It's weird, it's colorful, it's detailed and yet ambiguous. I'm feeling pretty autistic about it

Alright, I think that's about it. Thanks for listening!

[txttletale]

Hi! Do you think you could link me to some resources about the problems/ evils of the EU? Would love to find some but it's hard to know what's reliable when I have no base knowledge in this area + you seem very well informed :)

sure. let's start with what the EU does to its own member states--in 2009, the EU bailed the greek government out of severe debt on the condition that they establish brutal austerity measures, cutting public spending and welfare. these measures served to immiserate and destroy the lives of thousands of greek people:

Greek mortality has worsened significantly since the beginning of the century. In 2000, the death rate per 100,000 people was 944.5. By 2016, it had risen to 1174.9, with most of the increase taking place from 2010 onwards.

[forbes]

Since the implementation of the austerity programme, Greece has reduced its ratio of health-care expenditure to GDP to one of the lowest within the EU, with 50% less public hospital funding in 2015 than in 2009. This reduction has left hospitals with a deficit in basic supplies, while consumers are challenged by transient drug shortages.

[the lancet]

The homeless population is thought to have grown by 25 per cent since 2009, now numbering 20,000 people.

[oxfam]

the most brutal treatment, however, the EU of course reserves for migrants from the global south. the EU sets strict migration quotas and uses its member states as weapons against desperate people fleeing across the mediterranean. boats are prevented from landing, migrants that do make it to land are repelled with brutal violence, and refugees are deported back to countries where their lives are in lethal danger. these policies have led to many, many deaths--and the refugees and migrants who do survive are treating fucking inhumanely.

After a perilous journey across the desert, Abdulaziz was locked up in Triq al-Sikka, a grim prison in Tripoli, Libya. Why? Because the EU pays Libyan militias millions of euros to detain anyone deemed a possible migrant to Europe [...] A leaked EU internal memorandum in 2020 acknowledged that capturing migrants was now “a profitable business model” [...] in Triq al-Sikka and other detention centres, “acts of murder, enslavement, torture, rape and other inhumane acts are committed against migrants”, observed a damning UN report.

[the guardian]

Volunteers have logged more than 27,000 deaths by drowning since 1993, often hundreds at a time when large ships capsize. These account for nearly 80% of all the entries.

[the guardian]

Refugees and asylum seekers were punched, slapped, beaten with truncheons, weapons, sticks or branches, by police or border guards who often removed their ID tags or badges, the committee said in its annual report. People on the move were subject to pushbacks, expulsion from European states, either by land or sea, without having asylum claims heard. Victims were also subject to “inhuman and degrading treatment”, such as having bullets fired close to their bodies while they lay on the ground, being pushed into rivers, sometimes with hands tied, or being forced to walk barefoot or even naked across a border.

[the guardian]

In September, Greece opened a refugee camp on the island of Samos that has been described as prison-like. The €38m (£32m) facility for 3,000 asylum seekers has military-grade fencing and CCTV to track people’s movements. Access is controlled by fingerprint, turnstiles and X-rays. A private security company and 50 uniformed officers monitor the camp. It is the first of five that Greece has planned; two more opened in November.

[the guardian]

i could go on. i could cite dozens more similarly brutal news stories about horrific mistreatment, or any of the dozens of people who have killed themselves in the custody of border police under horrific conditions. the EU is a murderous institution that does not care about the lives of refugees and migrants or about the lives of the citizens of any member state that is not pursuing a vicious enough neoliberal political program

[argumate]

By the time these results emerged, however, Keys’ hypothesis had already gained widespread acceptance among his colleagues, including, importantly, leadership at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). By the late 1960s, a bias in favor of the diet-heart hypothesis was strong enough that researchers with contrary results found themselves unable or unwilling to publish their results. For instance, the largest test of the diet-heart hypothesis, the Minnesota Coronary Survey, involving 9057 men and women over 4.5 years, tested a diet of 18% saturated fat against controls eating 9%, yet did not find any reduction in cardiovascular events, cardiovascular deaths, or total mortality. Although the study had been funded by the NIH, the results were not published for 16 years, after the principal investigator, Ivan Frantz, had retired. Frantz is reported to have said that there was nothing wrong with the study; ‘We were just disappointed in the way it came out’. Frantz's decision not to publish his results in a timely manner resulted in these contradictory data not being considered for another 40 years.

20th century might have been different if we had figured out how to fix the aversion to publishing negative results!

once we "know" that something is true we become peculiarly reluctant to propagate evidence that it isn't.

[follow-up-news]

A hopeful and unexpected drop in U.S. drug overdose deaths appears to be gaining speed. Fatal overdoses are down 12.7%, according to data released this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It marks another significant improvement from last month, when surveys showed roughly a 10.6% drop in fatalities from street drugs. "This is the largest recorded reduction in overdose deaths, and the sixth consecutive month of reported decreases," White House officials said in a statement. Experts say the drop in street drug mortality marks a dramatic reversal from just a few years ago when fatal overdoses were spiraling upward at devastating speed, fueled largely by the spread of street fentanyl. If the trend holds, this year is expected to be the first since 2020 to see overdose deaths fall below the 100,000 mark.

[wardensantoineandevka]

I do genuinely like that Pelor is difficult, alienating, intensely flawed, narrow-sighted, and very hard to like. It does force those characters interested in the question of whether the gods are worth saving to actually GRAPPLE with the question on other merits (like what his relationship to his followers is like, the things he allows them do to for better and for worse, what his priorities are, etc., all valid negative points against him) instead of making the decision on a basis of raw likeability as if judging personality contest.

And, if one does still consider it maybe worth saving the pantheon, then additionally having to reconcile with the fact of being likeable or dislikeable or anywhere in between doesn't have an effect on whether they have the right to continue existing.

The idea I'm referring here is that the question of whether the gods should continue to exist is often decided on a basis of personality alone, whether it be Pelor and the Raven Queen are hard to like or Melora and Sarenrae are really likeable. That's existed since before Uthodurn, before Hearthdell, and it's felt hollow even then.

It's interesting to see Deanna especially directly confront these shortcomings and difficult and unlikeable things about Pelor, even directly highlight them in moments between herself and him, and then seemingly not give that dislikeability alone (just the way he can be unlikeable and has a difficult personality) significant weight in against the philosophical questions here, rather preferring to weigh those aforementioned other merits. The conflict of personality between them has great weight for the future of their own relationship (not great), but less toward an answer on the future of him and the pantheon as a whole against Predathos (still working on saving them from Predathos, even when covering her holy symbols). It's happened while in Wildemount, and it's again here in Jrusar.

Whatever one's feelings are on the question, I do really like that one of the major gods at play here doesn't make the question easy to answer using charisma and likeability—because that isn't the point. Trying to answer the question within this narrative on raw basis of whether a god has a right to exist or should be destroyed while centering whether they're likeable or not likeable is incredibly reductive, just as it is pointless and hollow to make the same assessment of individual mortal people. Their personalities alone aren't worth consideration at all; there's more important things to weigh for anyone grappling with that question.